We have reached the halfway point in the story :O Congrats for putting up with me this long, lol, and thanks to everyone who has been reviewing! I always enjoy reading your feedback!
I hope you enjoy this chapter, even though not very much happens in it and it's a little short...
Chapter Seven
Professor Lupin held Harry after his next class and Harry shuffled around nervously, not sure why he kept singling Harry out.
"I'm sorry about our conversation on Saturday," Professor Lupin said softly, gently, "I got very off-topic and we never addressed the real reason I invited you."
Harry blinked and waited for further explanation.
"Tuesday evenings would be the time for me to teach you the patronus charm," Professor Lupin continued, "if you're still interested."
"I am," Harry said happily, "I can definitely come by on Tuesday evenings, what time?"
"How about 7pm?" Professor Lupin suggested.
Harry smiled widely and eagerly agreed.
"I apologize again," Professor Lupin added, looking slightly uncomfortable, "you seemed rather frightened when I spoke about Sirius Black and otherwise referred to him. It was not my intention to frighten you…It would just serve you well to be aware of your surroundings."
"Like you said in class," Harry agreed, brightly.
Professor Lupin smiled and inclined his head at the reference, "Yes, precisely."
"Can I go now then?" Harry asked.
"Yes, that was all I wanted to speak to you about."
Harry quickly grabbed his bag and trotted out of the room, trying to catch up with his classmates.
"He's really going to teach me how to make that silver thing he used to get rid of the dementors," Harry told Wolfsbane as they walked around the grounds. "I can't believe he's going to help me out like that, and he knew mum and dad!"
Harry sighed and beamed down at Wolfsbane whose tail wagged faster when he did. "He's probably the best teacher we've ever had! Now, if he could just stop complaining about you, everything would be great!"
Harry stopped and knelt down to pet Wolfsbane who sat down, tail wagging quickly and stared open-mouthed and adoring at Harry's face. After a moment of petting, Wolfsbane eagerly sidled forward little by little until he could lick Harry's face.
Harry laughed and shoved the dog away, but lost his balance and fell down. Bane began bounding around him, jumping forward to lick Harry's hands and face whenever he could. Harry lay on the ground trying to avoid any dog slobber, squealing and laughing.
Then suddenly Bane stood still, his whole body seemingly leaned in one direction. He reminded Harry of a picture Aunt Petunia had hanging in the hallway of a pointer dog. After a moment he took off running and barking toward the quidditch field, Harry quickly rolled off the ground and chased after him.
Wolfsbane had stopped once he reached the pitch and was jumping and barking eagerly at Harry as he caught up. Harry stopped panting and Bane wandered around him, sniffing here and there, tail wagging wildly.
Harry felt the same sort of content feeling he always got whenever he walked onto the pitch. It was a bit odd to be here without other people.
"I can't wait for quidditch to start," Harry confided with a happy sigh.
Wolfsbane barked several times.
Wolfsbane walked up and leaned against Harry's legs and Harry patted him on the head.
"I love playing quidditch and I love flying," Harry told Bane. "It's the best feeling in the world."
Wolfsbane barked in agreement. The two of them stayed out till dinner and then Harry had to ask Ron and Hermione to sneak him food because Wolfsbane wouldn't be allowed in the great hall. The two of them decided to simply grab enough food for all three of them to eat and they all headed up to the empty common room to talk and eat together.
Crookshanks appeared at some point during the meal and delicately sniffed at the food until they shooed him away. He then went to sniff and paw playfully at Wolfsbane who acted like there was nothing going on at all.
Harry's first private lesson with Professor Lupin completely robbed him of what felt like all his energy and after he'd left Lupin's office, he'd slowly made his way back to his empty dorm and collapsed onto his bed. Wolfsbane appeared from wherever he'd been when Harry arrived and laid down next to him on his bed.
"That was really difficult," Harry sighed, "I couldn't do it right. I'm so tired…and frustrated."
Wolfsbane's wet nose touched his cheek and Harry couldn't help but smile.
"Professor Lupin says mum was good at charms, so it shouldn't take me long to figure it out," Harry sighed, and then Harry sniffed and buried his face in his pillow and sniffed again. Bane's nose touched Harry's ear and he whined softly, but he couldn't stop Harry from crying.
Wolfsbane instead pulled the curtains around Harry's bed and cuddled next to Harry to comfort him.
"I know it's stupid," Harry sniffled, "because I never knew them, but I miss them."
Wolfsbane whined and whimpered along with Harry.
Sometime later, Harry woke up and saw Wolfsbane sitting above him. Harry tried to sit up to see what was going on, but Bane's firmly placed his paw on his chest and it kept him from moving.
"Now, it'll be in here somewhere," either Fred or George whispered.
"He has to have it."
There was a thud followed by a soft curse.
"Shh, Harry's sleeping; he'll tell Ron if he wakes up."
"Fred, I don't know why he'd take it, honestly. He wouldn't know what it was."
"Who else could've taken it?"
"Flitch?" George suggested. "Or…maybe…"
"Don't even joke about that," Fred hissed, "we should've told that night."
"Then nothing would be different, we'd just know who'd taken it," George whispered with a sigh.
"You're probably right, let's just get out of here."
There was a bit of shuffling and then the door to the dorm closed. Wolfsbane removed his paw from Harry's chest and jumped down from the bed to sniff around the room. Harry pulled the curtains open and looked over to Ron's bed, nothing looked any different, but if the twins were trying to find something they would be sneaky about it.
"What do you think they were looking for?" Harry asked as Wolfsbane went over to sniff at Scabbers, who was beginning to look even worse. He also didn't move or try to escape when Wolfsbane came close to him…the rat must be losing the will to fight.
"Can't you leave Scabbers alone," Harry asked Bane, shooing him from the cage, "let him die in peace, huh? …Don't tell Ron I said he's dying!"
Wolfsbane sneezed and then jumped back up onto Harry's bed and then looked at Harry as if asking if they were going to go back to sleep.
Harry grabbed his wand and said, "I'm going to go see if Ron and Hermione are in the common room."
Wolfsbane jumped down and followed him.